The Lumberjack Song
The Lumberjack Song is one of the best-known and most popular sketches by the Monty Python comedy troupe. The song was written by Terry Jones, Michael Palin, and Fred Tomlinson. The sketch appeared in several forms (on the original television series, film, stage, and LP). It first appeared in "The Ant, an Introduction," the ninth episode of Monty Python's Flying Circus. It also appears in And Now for Something Completely Different. Synopsis ''Flying Circus'' After a homicidal barber, Bevis, is caught not cutting his customer's hair, he proceeds to sing about the life of a lumberjack he would rather have and lists various trees by their scientific names. He then rips off his coat to reveal a red flannel shirt, walks over to a stage backed by a coniferous forest, and begins to sing about the wonders of being a lumberjack. He is unexpectedly backed up by a large set of male singers, all dressed as Canadian Mounties (John Cleese, Graham Chapman, the Fred Tomlinson Singers). His "best girlie" (Connie Booth) joins him and as the song continues, he increasingly reveals cross-dressing tendencies, which both distresses the girl and confuses the Mounties, who continue to repeat and chorus his lines until they walk off in disgust. The girl cries out "And I thought you were so rugged!" before running off. ''And Now For Something Completely Different'' At the end of the song, the lumberjack is pelted with rotten fruit and eggs by the mounties, who can also be heard shouting insults. Another notable difference is that in the original version the lumberjack wishes he was a girlie "just like my dear mama," whereas the And Now For Something Completely Different version substitutes "mama" with "papa," implying that the lumberjack inherited his tendency for transvestism from his father. Behind the scenes The music is similar to Là ci darem la mano, Don Giovanni and Zerlina's duet in Act 1, Scene 2, of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's opera Don Giovanni.[http://property.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/property/article1132101.ece Patrick Kidd, 'Where the other half lives', The Times (16 May 2003)]Keepers of the Vans (18 September 2006) The sketch took its inspiration from a discussion Palin had with an assistant cameraman, in which the subject was the cameraman's former jobs. One of the jobs was revealed to be that of a lumberjack. There also exists a German version of The Lumberjack Song for which Palin learned the German text phonetically and the group of Mounties was replaced by a group of Austrian border guards. Instead of one of his parents, the German version credits the lumberjack's "Uncle Walter" as inspiring his passion for cross-dressing; this change was likely done simply for a rhyme with "Büstenhalter", the German translation for "bra", which caps the phrase preceding the "I wish I'd been a girlie..." line. In The Concert for George (a memorial concert put on one year to the day after George Harrison's death), they performed the Lumberjack Song with Tom Hanks as one of the chorus of lumberjacks. References in popular culture * King of the Hill episode 45 (KH311): :Hank: "Heck, I thought I'd go ahead and sharpen all the axes." :Dale: (singing) "Hank's a lumberjack, and he's OK...." * In the game World of Warcraft, a non-player character in Elwyn Forest is a lumberjack named "Terry Palin". * In the MMORPG RuneScape, the character named "Lumberjack Leif" says, when examined: "He's a lumberjack and he's okay." From one of the game's minigames, a character can also acquire a 4-part Lumberjack outfit. All pieces have the examine information: "You'll certainly be alright wearing this/these." The enemies they are acquired from, Undead Lumberjacks, have the examine "He is one, but he's certainly not alright." The outfit looks exactly like Michael Palin's costume in the sketch. * In the game Kingdom of Loathing, there is an outfit named the "OK Lumberjack Outfit." * In the city-building simulation Master of Olympus - Zeus, lumberjacks will warn of high unemployment with the words: "A lot of people are out of work! But I'm a lumberjack, so I'm okay." * In the comic strip Liberty Meadows by Frank Cho, the frog Leslie in one strip dresses up as a lumberjack and suddenly can't help beginning to sing the lumberjack song. * In the Hollywood-themed world in the anime ''Magical Shopping Arcade Abenobashi, Grandpa Masa randomly exclaims that he always wanted to be a lumberjack while ripping off his shirt (as in the sketch) in front of a Canadian wilderness-style backdrop. The voice actor for Grandpa Masa, Takeshi Aono, provided the voice-over for all of Michael Palin's dialogue when ''Monty Python's Flying Circus was dubbed into Japanese. * The Blender movie Lumberjacks in the Blender Gallery is based on The Lumberjack song * In the game Serious Sam: The Second Encounter, Sam sings "I am a lumberjack and I'm OK" when he picks up a chainsaw. * The role-playing game Golden Sun contains a reference to the song in one NPC's thoughts: "I'm a lumberjack and I'm OK with that." *The WWE used the song when wrestler Goldust sang the song in one of its skits. Full Lyrics I never wanted to do this job in the first place! I... I wanted to be... A LUMBERJACK! (piano vamp) Leaping from tree to tree! As they float down the mighty rivers of British Columbia! With my best girl by my side! The Larch! The Pine! The Giant Redwood tree! The Sequoia! The Little Whopping Rule Tree! We'd sing! Sing! Sing! Oh, I'm a lumberjack, and I'm okay, I sleep all night and I work all day. CHORUS: He's a lumberjack, and he's okay, He sleeps all night and he works all day. I cut down trees, I eat my lunch, I go to the lava-try. On Wednesdays I go shoppin' And have buttered scones for tea. Mounties: He cuts down trees, he eats his lunch, He goes to the lava-try. On Wednesdays 'e goes shoppin' And has buttered scones for tea. CHORUS I cut down trees, I skip and jump, I like to press wild flowers. I put on women's clothing, And hang around in bars. Mounties: He cuts down trees, he skips and jumps, He likes to press wild flowers. He puts on women's clothing And hangs around.... In bars??????? CHORUS I chop down trees, I wear high heels, Suspenders and a bra. I wish I'd been a girlie Just like my dear papa. Mounties: He cuts down trees, he wears high heels Suspenders?? and a .... a Bra???? (spoken, raggedly) What's this? Wants to be a "girlie"? Oh, My! And I thought you were so rugged! Poofter! CHORUS All: He's a lumberjack, and he's okaaaaaaayyy... References Category:Sketches Category:Songs Category:The Ant, an Introduction sketches Category:And Now For Something Completely Different sketches